Title of your project.

PepsiPlants Do Different Types of Liquids Affect Plant Growth?

Research Question In the form of a question. Is measurable. Fits the format of, Does something Affect something else? Generally it is Does my independent or changed variable or experimental group Affect my dependent, measuring, or reacting variable?

Identifying Information Name School Period # Grade level

Anna Johnson Owensboro Catholic Elementary School 4-6 Campus Period 2 Grade 6

Table of Contents
Cover Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements Purpose Hypothesis Variables and Constants Review of Literature Materials Methods of Procedure Results Conclusions Reference List

Accurate list of what is on each page of your research paper.

p. 1 p. 2 p. 3 p. 4 p. 5 p. 6 p. 7-12 p. 13 p. 14 p. 15 p. 16 p. 17

Acknowledgements

Gives appropriate credit to those persons whom may have helped you with your project

I would like to thank the following people for helping me with my research project. First, I would like to thank my parents who supported me during the many hours at the library, on the computer, and during my experiment. Second, I would like to thank Ms. Kendall the librarian who helped me find multiple sources of information for my research. Lastly, I would like to thank my brother and sister who helped record data during the experiment. Thank you all for making this project something that I am extremely proud of.

Purpose

States reasons why your project is important and connects those reasons to the world.

The purpose of my experiment is to find out if different liquids affect plant growth. The reason I think this project is so important is because plants serve so many functions for humans. They make our clothes, they clean our air, and they even feed us. My project may allow humans to grow plants more easily and more affectively without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. For example, if the results of my project show that certain liquids help plants to grow more than others, maybe in the future we can use these liquids instead of our current methods. Then, maybe more humans can have the clothes they want, the food they want, and breathe air that is cleaner because plant growth around the planet will be elevated. That is why I think the purpose of my project is so important.

Hypothesis

Positive and exact statement that will be proven either right or wrong at the conclusion of your experiment.

The plant that receives black tea for the liquid will grow more centimeters than the other plants.

Reasoning: I believe the plant with the tea as a liquid will grow more centimeters because during my research I read that plants need decomposed or broken down plant parts as part of their soil in order to grow. Tea is a plant. And, since tea is already a little bit broken down or decomposed, this should help the plant grow. So, by giving a plant tea as a liquid, the plant should receive water from the tea, which it needs, plus some decomposed or broken down stuff, all at once.

Give support for your hypothesis. Explain why you chose the hypothesis that you chose. Try and use evidence that you may have found in your preliminary research. This is where you can use I think or I believe because

Independent or Changed Variables, or Experimental Group 1. Black Tea The things that I 2. Coffee purposely changed or experimented with. 3. Pepsi Dependent, Measuring, or Reacting Variable: Centimeters of plant growth Control Group Water
Something normal or regular that I am using to compare against. The method I am using to measure the difference or affect my independent, manipulated, or changed variables have.

Constants, Controlled Variables, or Controls: Amount of liquid added to plant. Type of plant. Location of plant. Amount of sunlight. Type of soil. Amount of soil.

Things that I am keeping the same or controlled. Remember that you want to keep everything the same except the things you are purposely changing like your independent, changed, or manipulated variables.

Avoid plagiarism!!! Changing a few words does not make it your own. If you are using simple language to communicate your ideas, you are writing well.

Review of Literature

Same as research. The information you found on your topics. This is mostly written in your own words with quotes used to support your ideas.

During my research I discovered many new things about my topics of plants, water, coffee, tea, and Pepsi. I was surprised by many new facts and comforted by some of the information that supported what I already knew. The following categories are made up of the information that I thought was the most important. Plants
Topics are the things involved in your project that you should know about before experimenting.

Plants are organisms that grow on Earth. They can be found just about everywhere that humans live and are usually a part of humans lives. I was surprised to find out that in many ways they are like humans, and in many ways they are different. Plants produce food for themselves by changing light

energy into sugar. This process involves many steps, but in general is called photosynthesis. (plants.org) Humans cannot use photosynthesis because they do not have chloroplasts

Quotes are something someone else said used to support your ideas.

Cite Sources whichFeel free to use other are peoples ideas, but you must give them credit. Use key words in parenthesis here in the text so that readers can easily identify the source of the information in your reference list.

specialized cells that all plants have. Chloroplasts are always green. This might be why plants always seem to be green. Plants dont have feet like humans but they do have things called roots. Roots of plants grow into the ground by a process called geotropism. I read a book about plant growth by Daniel Karpinski. In it Karpinski states, Geotropism is the tendency of plant roots to grow towards the gravitational pull of the Earths core. (Karpinski, p. 357) Because of geotropism, plant roots hold the plant firmly in the ground and allow it to gather water and other important things like nutrients. Just like humans need water, food, and oxygen to survive, plants need certain things too. Plants need nutrients for processes and growth. They also need carbon dioxide for respiration and sunlight for photosynthesis. Lastly, they need water to transport things and sustain cell life. This need for water may affect the results of my project.
Exampl e of a way to use a quote.

Coffee Coffee is a drink that I see my parents drink all the time. It is made from the seeds of a cherry that grows on a coffee tree. Coffee farmers grow these coffee trees, pick the cherries, and then wait for the seeds to dry in the sun. Many countries grow coffee for money but the country that produces the most is Columbia. In 2010, Orlando Torres, a coffee expert from Chicago, stated that Columbia is the largest coffee producing country in the world creating more than 30,000 pounds of coffee a day. (Torres, p.34) The reason Columbia produces the most coffee is that it is located near the equator and has the best weather for coffee trees. The weather is also good for drying the beans. I also found out that coffee has something called caffeine in it. Caffeine is probably the reason why my parents drink it because it helps them stay awake. Without my coffee, I would probably fall asleep right on the job. (Angela Martinez, interview 10/07/11) Caffeine may also affect the plants in my experiment, although my
9 Exampl e of a way to use a quote. Exampl e of a way to use a quote.

guess is that it will hurt the plant not give it energy like it does to a human.

Water Water is found in large amounts all over the planet. There are many oceans and lakes. Oceans usually have salt in them and lakes are usually are made of fresh water. All forms of life need water in some form or another so we are very lucky on Earth to have so much water. We learned in Science class last year that all water molecules are formed from the elements of hydrogen and oxygen. To be exact, each molecule has two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. (H2O) This does not mean that all water we use is the same because it comes from different places and carries different particles with it. Water from the taps in your house is filtered from pumping stations miles off shore in Lake Michigan. (chicagotribune.com)
Exampl e of a way to use a quote.

10

So the water that I will be using in my experiment comes straight from Lake Michigan which is less than three miles from my house.

Black Tea Tea is another drink that people consume. It is usually brewed or soaked in a cup with hot water. It has been around for many, many, years and it kind of looks like leaves. After is soaks, the leaves are taken out in a bag and the water turns brown. My parents dont drink much tea but people in Europe probably do. Most Europeans drink one to two cups of black tea per day. (Tea and the World, 2011, p.117) I think that because tea is made of dried leaves and dried leaves are usually on the ground, and plants grow out of the ground, that tea will help plants to grow. Pepsi
Exampl e of a way to use a quote.

11

Pepsi is the brand name of a cola. Colas are drinks that have carbonation and corn syrup in them. I think that they taste great. And, I usually have cola when my parents let me. I was very surprised to find out how unhealthy Pepsi is for humans. I was shocked to discover how one doctor described the consumption of Pepsi and other sodas like it. The high fructose corn sugar and caffeine content in most sodas cause overweight, under-energized, unhappy people with tooth decay in America. (Zuy, p. 37) I read that the sugar in Pepsi quickly turns to fat and the caffeine wears off and leaves people cranky.
Exampl e of a way to use a quote.

12

Materials

List of things needed to run your experiment.

1. Sixteen soybean plants, each around five centimeters tall, in the same size pot, and with the same amount and type of soil in them. Four for each group. 2. One measuring tube with milliliters. 3. 1 liter of water. 4. 1 liter of coffee. 5. 1 liter of tea. 6. 1 liter of Pepsi. 7. An area where all four plants will receive the same amount of sunlight and stay in the same temperature.

13

Procedure

An easily repeatable step by step process explaining how to run your experiment. Use details so that if someone wanted to run your experiment to check your results, they could.

1. Gather materials. 2. Arrange plant groups in an equally sunny spot where all plants will receive the same amount of sunlight and be kept at the same temperature. 3. Record the length of each soy plant individually. 4. Add ten milliliters of each independent variable liquid to each separate plant for fourteen days. 5. Each day, before pouring the liquids, measure all plants individually and record data. 6. After the fourteenth day, combine data and average amount of growth for each group. 7. Arrange data on an easy to read chart.

14

Results

An easy to read summary of your experiment. Someone should be able to tell, at a glance, exactly what happened in your experiment without an explanation.

Generally the dependent, measuring, or reacting variable goes on the vertical.

Generally the independent or changed variables or experimental groups go on the horizontal.

Graph created at Create a Graph nces.ed.gov

15

First sentence should clearly state whether your hypothesis was right or wrong.

Conclusions

As you can see from my results, my hypothesis was wrong.

A thorough explanation of your results. This is where you can include your ideas on why things went the way they did.

The control group, water, grew the most centimeters. The reason I think this happened may be related to what I read about the process by which all plants make food, photosynthesis. In my research I read about photosynthesis and discovered that H2O or water is necessary in order for the plant to synthesize solar energy, or energy from the sun, into sugar. This might mean that the plant was simply looking for water in whatever substance I chose to pour on it. The maximum amount of H2O of course was in the control group which was just plain water. I think the results will help the world by opening further experimentation on amounts of water and plant growth. Maybe plants need so much water that they would prefer to grow straight in water instead of soil. I will continue my work on plant growth in the future and find out what makes plants grow the most centimeters.

16

Reference List
Interne t Internet Author Unknow n

Robert Billings. (2012). Plant Growth. Available: http://www.plants.org/photo/ . Last accessed September 3.

Another name for bibliography. This is where you give credit to the sources that you used to support your ideas in your research or Review of Literature.

Unknown. (2012). Our Water. Available: http://www.chicagotribune.com/fresh/Mich/. Last accessed October 12. Daniel Karpinski (2011). All That is Green. San Diego: Gem Press. 350-367. Orlando Torres. (2012). Coffee and Columbia. Newsweek. 11 (7), 34. Martinez, A. (2011). [Interview with Angela Martinez] 10/07/12 Unknown (2011). Encyclopedia Britannica. New York: American Corporation. 115-119. Dr, Ronald Zuy. (2012). Sugar, Caffeine, and Fat. A Recipe for Gloom and Death in America. Journal of American Medicine. 12 (4), 33-111.

Book

Journ al

Intervie w Encyclopedi a Author unknown

THIS PROJECT WILL REQUIRE AT LEAST 5 SOURCES

17